Vending Machine Love
by 808Lionfire
Summary: Between the Literature and Chemistry buildings on the campus of Magnolia State University, there's a shady tunnel-way known as Vending Alley. That's where he met her. She was only supposed to be the weirdo he in front of the vending machines... huh. Funny how that works. (College!AU)
1. A Thank You

**A/N: Here's another Nalu fic because I don't have enough on my plate already XD This plot was inspired by the (inner-romantic) author in me while I was lingering around the vending machines on my campus. I always had this low-key, irrational fear of vending machines because I'm probably the most paranoid person I know. Haha!**

 **And if you didn't know 100 Jewels = 1 USD or if you wanna get all technical 1 Jewel = 1 Cent.**

 **Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire**

 **Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima (The cover image is also by Mashima-sensei)  
**

* * *

 **Overview:** Rated T for slight language. College/Modern!AU. Genre: Romance/Humor and Friendship/Family feels for later chapters. Word count: 4,842.

 **Summary:** Between the Literature and Chemistry buildings on the campus of Magnolia State University, there's a shady tunnel-way known as Vending Alley. That's where he met her. She was only supposed to be the weirdo he in front of the vending machines... huh. Funny how that works. (College!AU)

 **Pairing(s):** Natsu/Lucy, Gray/Juvia, Gajeel/Levy, Jellal/Erza

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 **Vending Machine Love _  
_**

" _A Thank You_ "

Natsu Dragneel never considered himself a patient person.

It took a lot of pride stomping to admit that fact, but he'd rather come to terms with it than delude himself. He supposes though, that he does have his moments of patience– however far and few in between they may be. But yes, he is not a patient person. He is as hot-headed, as short-tempered, and as fiery as they come, and Gray Fullbuster's currently ice-packed face back in the infirmary could definitely back that up.

Besides, that icy-prick deserved the shiner he gave him. They've known each other for _years_ , even more than he would like to admit, and Natsu would like to believe that he built up a small tolerance for the dark-haired idiot's insults. It also kinda sucks that Freeze-face's remarks managed to up in quality every year that passes. Daresay– some even tested what little patience he already had.

Natsu had even managed to come up with pretty good insults as well. One thing that would never change, though, was Natsu snapping whenever Gray called his obviously _salmon_ -colored hair _pink_. Sure it would take a bit of prodding now, but it still never failed to set him off. He had grown to deal with it like how he always used to; beating that stripping freak's fugly face to the ground and _winning_.

That never changes either. Him. Winning. If he wasn't clear enough.

And as much as he would hate to admit it though, that icy bastard caught a good right-hook to his face before he winner could actually be determined and they were broken apart by Erza Scarlet– the monstrous Sophomore that managed to usurp the campus sheriff's position during her Freshman year of college. So whether he liked it or not, he had a pretty gnarly bruise decorating his left cheek.

He just wasn't as much as a pansy as Gray to drag himself— _or had a completely psychotic, stalker girlfriend to drag him_ —to the infirmary and press a frozen bag of who-knows-how-old-it-is peas against his face. Only _Mavis_ knows where the stripping freak's equally freaky girlfriend got that bag of frozen vegetables from.

But anyway, Natsu's lack of patience is why his lifelong rival is currently in the infirmary being doted on by his crazy girlfriend; why he picked himself up, brushed himself off, and dragged himself to the vending machines around the corner; and why he was currently ready to blow a fuse since he watched his whole life roll down the drain.

Literally.

He dropped his last three twenty-five jewel coins down the drain— _which was conveniently placed right under where the coin slots hung_—and he was _starving to death_. So maybe trying to buy a snack from a vending machine wouldn't really satisfy his monstrous appetite, but it's enough to hold him off until his last class. Or, at least it _would've_ been enough if his _freakin_ ' jewels didn't roll down the drain!

What kind of sadistic bastard would put a damn drain there anyway?

A long, frustrated sigh left his lips as he despairingly dropped his forehead against the viewing glass of the machine. The built-in coolant system, that kept the contents in the snack dispenser fresh, chilled the glass and doubled as a cold-pack for the harsh bruise under the pinkette's eye. Natsu was sure he looked pathetic, but it wasn't like anyone who mattered would see him anyway.

They were either in class learning something or the other, or hanging out in the sun to fend off the chill of the upcoming winter. They wouldn't be lingering around the campus' shadiest alley, which was conveniently full of vending machines, and apparently the _best_ place to put a drain grate in the _history of worst drain grate placements_.

 _Really_ , the salmon-haired student thought irritably, _what else could go wrong?_

Natsu's stomach grumbled and he blew out another sigh, his hot breath creating a large patch of fog on the glass before it slowly ebbed away. He didn't care. He was too busy mourning for his lost change, and reveling in the instant comfort the chill brought to his face-wound, to even notice the tentative footsteps that stopped behind him.

He did, however, notice a reflection of the figure in the glass and closed his eyes. He sucked in a breath, reluctantly pushing away from the machine and raising his left hand to hit the change return. But before his finger could hit the button of fate to seal his death by hunger, something soft tickled his uninjured cheek. Instinctively, her jerked away from the source.

His dark-olive-green eyes snapped towards the offending object, which– weirdly enough, turned out to be a hundred jewel bill.

"Here," a higher-pitched, and _obviously_ feminine, voice spoke. "Take it."

Natsu turned to the speaker, his salmon-colored eyebrows nearly shooting up to his hairline. He didn't know what surprised him more– that she was giving him money, or that, even with heels, she was still shorter than him. It was slightly comical with the way the top of her head barely cleared his no means was he short generally, but in his group he was always hounded for being the smallest. So it was slightly gratifying when this _smaller_ woman popped out of nowhere.

Surely he didn't know it then, but standing in front of him was none other than Lucy Heartfilia. The 'blond-haired-bombshell' and Mag State's very own _Celestial Princess_ ; a title earned by being a prodigy in all things astrology and being extremely proficient in all things Literature. Preferably Novels.

And preferably Fairy Tales.

Hence the name.

But he didn't know all that. All he knew was that she was slightly strange, with her blinking up at him with those large, wide, chocolate-colored eyes; with her pure white teeth nervously dragging her plump, bottom lip inside mouth and nibbling; with her long, blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail, the color a shade off a gold that was as rare as a five-hundred jewel coin; and with her large, pink, over-sized sweater that nearly swallowed her whole.

She was pretty– maybe even beautiful, despite her hair being a mess and her clothes looking a little rumpled. This young woman was the true embodiment of an ' _All-Fiorian-Girl_ ' and the subject that fancies a-many. But just as true as he was impatient, Natsu was equally oblivious.

He just wasn't as aware of the latter.

"What?"

The blonde's head tilted slightly at his confused tone and she waved the bill closer to his face. "Take it."

Natsu's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

"Consider it a ' _thank you_ '," she answered vaguely, continuing to wave the bill in his face. "Or if you don't believe that, then think of it as a 'I-saw-your-hopes-and-dreams-literally-go-down-the-drain-and-this-is-my-one-random-act-of-kindness'."

"Okay, okay! Geez!" Natsu snatched the bill. "Just stop waving your money in my face. It's insulting."

The salmon-haired student ignored the small smile that formed on the blonde's face, and instead looked down at the money in his hand as if it was a completely foreign object. After a moment of speculation, he lifted his olive-gaze and peered at the golden-haired stranger with the slightest bit of suspicion. She only tilted her head back to meet his gaze, her chocolate eyes filled with a patient expectation.

A finely plucked brow lifted after another few seconds of silence, "Well?"

He stared at her for a moment longer and she still held his gaze, neither wavering at the sudden impromptu staring match. Finally, Natsu sighed after a full minute, a slow forming of respect growing his his gut. He glanced once more at the hundred jewel bill before turning back around and shoving the money into the slot with a noncommittal shrug.

Other than the hundred jewel bill that he sunk into the machine earlier, he was basically getting a free meal. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Besides, his day was already starting to suck, what else could go wrong?

With that thought in mind, the salmon-haired student punched in the code for the biggest and spiciest bag of the _Fire Dragon_ 's corn-meal based puff chips. As the snack rolled forward, his olive-eyes stared in surprise at the sheer emptiness behind the spicy treat. Natsu suddenly thanked his lucky stars that it was Friday. The suppliers always came around to restock the machines, but only on Saturdays.

And despite the countless vending machines that lined the wall, this machine was the only one that held the snack he always came back for. So as it finally reached the time for the snack to fall, Natsu felt it was safe enough to let a little bit of excitement to slip into his system. When he would finally get to eat his treat, the salmon-haired student knew for a fact that it would be _the_ highlight of his day.

As he let a bit more of his normal exuberance back in, he could already picture himself moaning in content as he devoured the spicy puffs; his fingers stained red, probably from the overload of spice they dusted onto each chip; and the heat from each bite slowly clearing his congested sinuses, an 'allergy' that always comes with irritating cold weather.

Unfortunately, none of those fantasies got to see the light of day, because not even halfway down its descent, the bag suddenly stopped. Natsu's jaw slowly fell as he stared at it, his mind blanking almost instantly at the sight. Out of all the shitty things to happen... the bag was stuck.

 _Stuck_.

Right between the glass and the _Celestial Keys_ ' gold-dusted chocolates.

The salmon-haired man slowly turned to look at the golden-haired stranger, desperate to see her unamused expression to snap him back to reality and prove that he wasn't currently experiencing his worst nightmare. Unfortunately, judging by her eyes which were currently wide in surprise and locked onto the stalled bag of puff-chips, his suspicions were nothing if not confirmed.

Slowly, her chocolate-orbs caught his olive ones, and she blinked. Her blonde-eyebrow twitched as she lifted her hand to cover her mouth, her face angling away just as a loud snort escaped her. And despite the desperate frustration he gained upon seeing his last shred of happiness freeze, he couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. Natsu could tell the blonde was way too amused with the situation, but begrudgingly gave her credit for trying to hide it. Even _if_ she wasn't doing a great job at it.

"Sorry," she meekly apologized, her face still turned away from him. Her shoulders shook a little from her suppressed giggles. "I just n-never knew it was p-possible."

Natsu's shoulders deflated, but he managed to keep the smile on his face. "No worries, it's a first for me too."

The blonde's dark-brown-eyes darted his way and he rolled his eyes at the silent laughter he saw in them. It was just a tiny spark deep in her chocolate-orbs, but it was light, airy, and carefree; so unlike what her eyes were like when she offered him her money. It was such a small light, and a normally insignificant thing to notice on every day that ended with a ' _y_ ', but he suddenly found himself chuckling along with it.

"I feel like this is partially my fault," the golden-haired stranger admitted guiltily, managing to tone down her giggling enough to speak properly. "I came here to buy something anyway, let's see if I can get it unstuck by dropping another snack on it."

"You could do that," Natsu agreed, but lifted his fist and pressed his knuckles against the clear viewing glass, "or I can just try to hit the glass until it falls down on its own."

"What?!" She cried in outrage, her eyes snapping towards his hand. "No!"

The young woman bounced forward, shocking him when she smacked his fist away. She pushed her way between him and the machine, settling him with a stern glare. One of her small fists perched on the hips hidden by her over-sized sweater while the other lifted, index extended, and waved at him as if she was scolding a toddler.

Which was actually kinda insulting.

"You will be doing nothing of the sort!" she berated. "You might break the glass, and not to mention that it's also against campus rules to shake, hit, or use force against and to the machine."

"You think I'm strong enough to break the glass?" Natsu grinned, a salmon-colored eyebrow raising at her words. It was tempered glass, the same kind of glass that are used for windshields on cars. So the thought he could break it with a couple of hits was a compliment.

The golden-haired stranger rolled her eyes, dropping her arm to her side. "I've seen you fight before and trust me, I wouldn't write off the possibility so soon."

The salmon-haired student merely shrugged, a cheeky grin on his face. He saw her take an exasperated breath before lifting her hand again, but shooed him away instead of waving a finger. Natsu complied easily enough and took a step back, watching as she dug a tan wallet out of her sweater pocket and turned back to the machine. Before he knew it, the blonde sunk three twenty-five jewel coins and another hundred jewel bill into the machine. Not a single movement was wasted as she fluidly punched in a code on the number-pad.

Natsu blinked blankly at the back of her head. She moved as if she did this a million times before, which was weird because he never saw her before and he spent _a lot_ of time here.

"I still vote for hitting the glass," the salmon-haired student mused when a bag of _Everlue' Monster Gummies_ harmlessly fell from two rows up onto the stuck chip bag before uselessly rolling off.

The golden-haired stranger turned to look at him over her shoulder, "Where's the fun in that though?"

For some reason though, the sight of her stalled the rest of his protests. Her chocolate-orbs danced with an innocent, child-like excitement that he knew all too well. A bright grin played on her lips, the expression slightly awkward as if she forgot how to smile in one point of her life and it never fully returned. Natsu's eyebrows furrowed, wondering where in _Tartaros_ that thought came from.

"It's kinda like a game, don't you think?" She went on, unaware of the troubled expression on his face and dug another round of cash out of her wallet. "It's the anticipation that gets you. Like a safer version of Alvarez Roulette."

"Alvarez Roulette?" The salmon-haired student's expression smoothed out as he chuckled, "You mean that 'one-shot-the-barrel' torture test that they used to do in the old Alvarez army to weed out spies?"

"Yeah..." she trailed off, her smile fading as she glanced at him quickly, "but safer."

"Alright, weirdo. Whatever you say," Natsu chuckled, ignoring the sharp look she shot him in favor of squinting past her and into the machine. "Why don't you try the _Celestial Zodiac_ chocolates?"

The golden-haired woman blinked at his sudden change of topic, but decided to humor him. "Logically it wouldn't work," she stated as she pushed her twenty-five jewel coins into its proper slots.

The salmon-haired student tilted his head. "Why not?"

"There isn't much room for the bag to grab enough momentum to push the _Fire Dragon_ chips down," she explained while punching in another code, "besides, the chocolates are pretty light, so the factor of weight wouldn't be enough to loosen it– much less dislodge it. We're better off trying the heavier snacks above it first, like the _Southern Wolves_ ' dissolving mints, the _Fire Prominence_ candied tablets, or even the _Eisen Lullaby_ black licorice."

Natsu's expression was still skeptic, but he decided to trust her. He was no physics major, so he didn't even pretend to know how the whole thing worked. Still, he firmly believed the the key-shaped chocolates would be the one to knock the flaming chips down.

Just call it instinct.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes and a little under twenty-five-hundred jewels later, the golden-haired stranger sat cross-legged in front of him and held the bag of _Fire Dragon_ puff-chips in her hand with the funniest baffled expression on her face. The ground was freezing, and yet, Natsu still cackled mirthfully at the blonde's look of complete disbelief. Just the sight of her had him cackling all over again.

His hoodie hung loose on her shoulders, blocking the cold December air from hitting her. The black and gold jacket engulfed her even more than her over-sized sweater did. The blonde was crazy enough to wear a pair of shorts and a flimsy spaghetti-strap top in this weather. Then again, her sweater was doing a decent job at keeping her warm.

At least until the weirdo decided to shrug it off and lay it on the floor.

Natsu originally thought she did that so she could sit down— _well_ , _she had been complaining that getting the chips dislodged was taking forever and she was getting tired of standing_—but imagine his surprise when she smoothed the pink cloth out and sat cross-legged on the ground, and _not_ on the sweater. Instead, she told him that the drop-box was getting too full and then shocked him once again when she started to unload the snacks _onto_ _her sweater_. She was probably the strangest– if not _weirdest_ , person he knew.

He never met someone quite like her.

And guess what she said to him when he asked her why she didn't just dump the snacks on the ground?

The golden-haired woman had shot him a look of disbelief before she rolled her eyes and answered a firm, " _I don't want the snacks to get dirty._ "

He was sure a feather could have knocked him down right then. After all, all the snacks that came out of the vending machine was packaged; even if she did dump them on the ground, they wouldn't have gotten dirty. He just couldn't understand her logic, which made blanch because it was usually _him_ that confused other people with his logic. Not the other way around.

Eventually he got over his shock and draped his jacket around her shoulders when a particularly chilly breeze slammed its way through Vending Alley. At first she argued against it, but then he countered by saying that he had his muffler and it was a lot warmer than what she had on. After sending him a glare that had lost its glamour when she started to shiver, she reluctantly accepted his hoodie.

But back to the reason why he was laughing.

As fate would have it, he was actually _right_ for once.

They got through the heavier snacks like the _Twin Dragon_ black and white gummies, artificially colored, but multi-flavored; the _Lightning Lacrima_ zap-rocks, little sugar-crystals that popped in your mouth; and the _Iron Dragon_ 'metallic' caramel-brittle that was brushed with— _edible_ —silver dust to give it a more iron-y feel. After those didn't work, they moved onto other snacks like the _Blue Script_ cookies, _Titania Delight_ strawberry cakes, the _Sky Dragon_ chocolate covered malt treats, the _Winter Rain_ gum that was filled with a refreshing mint jelly, and so on.

They were quickly running out of options and the blonde was running out of money.

Even though the golden-haired student thought it was a futile attempt, Natsu somehow managed to convince her to try out the _Celestial Keys_. He might have been a little ruder than he should've been— _especially since she was doing_ _him_ _a favor_ —but he was getting impatient. Which shocked him enough to apologize because normally he would've blown his fuse by now.

The girl merely brushed his apology off with a shrug and dug some more money from her wallet. Out of pure laziness and skepticism, she merely rose enough on her knees to slip in the money and hit the code. They both watched on bated breath as the last package of key-shaped chocolates slid out of its spot and flopped uselessly onto the lodged package of _Fire Dragon_ puff-chips, but didn't bounce off like the other snacks did.

Now _both_ of their favorite snacks were stuck.

The golden-haired stranger turned to him with a smug retort on her tongue, but was quickly shushed by the delayed clunk of both snacks falling into to drop-box. Natsu watched her chocolate orbs widen in surprise before she slowly reached into the flap and pulled out both packages with a look of complete disbelief on her face.

"S-Stop laughing!" She cried loudly, trying desperately to stop his cackling. "That doesn't mean anything! We probably loosened it with all the other snacks!"

Natsu snickered, "Keep tellin' yourself that and maybe one day you'll believe it."

"Sh-Shut up!"

The salmon-haired student laughed when she pulled the hood of his jacket over her eyes and yanked the drawstrings to hide her red face. In any other situation, he probably would have rudely said something about doing that since it was _really_ hard to get those even on both sides, but he was currently too amused to care. He felt something hit his chest and quickly caught it on instinct, only grinning wider when he saw it was his _Fire Dragon_ puff-chips.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," the blonde huffed and crossed her arms after she opened the hood. "See if I ever help you again." That last comment sobered him slightly and he felt his head tilt in curiosity. She caught his gaze and rose an eyebrow, "What?"

"Hm," he hummed, tearing his package open and shoving his greedy fingers inside, "I was just wonderin' why you wanted to help me anyway."

"I told you it was because I saw your twenty-five jewel coins roll down the drain," she blinked. Her eyes strayed to the grate a few inches away from her and frowned, "Which is a perfect place to put a drain grate if the architect's sole mission was to ruin the lives of college students everywhere."

Natsu nodded his approval, popping a chip in his mouth. "That's exactly what I was thinking. I lost more coins down there than I could count."

"Same here," she agreed dryly, then her gaze turned thoughtful. "It's right under the vending machine with the best snacks too. Maybe there's some kind of conspiracy behind it."

"You think so?" he snorted in amusement. "Maybe someone comes by every weekend to unscrew the grate and collects the coins."

"I wouldn't put it past them," the blonde smirked. "After all, last year a friend of mine found a stash of 'confiscated' adult magazines and a bunch of empty booze bottles in that Sociology professor's desk."

"Gildarts?" Natsu asked in surprise and nearly choked on his puff-chips when the golden-haired student nodded. "That dirty old-man..." The salmon-haired student eyed the snickering woman in front of him and he grinned, "Stop distractin' me! Tell me the really reason why you helped!"

The blonde stopped laughing long enough to blink at him, "but I did!"

"And I don't believe that," he countered, placing his bag of spicy chips down and leaning forward on his hands. "I admit, you _are_ a weirdo–"

"Hey!"

"–but not weird enough to spend nearly three-thousand jewels just because I lost three twenty-five jewel coins." He eyed silently and she fidgeted under his olive-colored gaze. "Spill."

"It's nothing really." The golden-haired student sighed at his blank stare and seemed to contemplated her answer before speaking again. "You just helped me out earlier," she muttered, absentmindedly evening out the drawstrings on his hoodie, "and I wanted to repay you, that's it."

Natsu's expression turned confused, "I helped you?"

"Yeah," she grumbled, releasing the strings when she was satisfied. "You and that guy you were fighting earlier today saved me from another date invitation from that creep, Bora. To be honest, I originally wanted to thank that dark-haired guy since I thought you were... _kinda scary_."

His eyes widened and his chest constricted uncomfortably, "...me?"

"Well, yeah– but don't get me wrong!" she was quick to defend, probably noticing the hurt look on his face. "I don't think that _now_. You're much less scary than the blue-haired woman that glared at me when I tried to follow them. It was just– at that moment, when you were winning, it was..." the golden-haired student sighed, feeling like she was digger herself a deeper grave. "Sorry. I just don't like fighting."

"Oh," he mumbled. After a moment, he shrugged off the slight depression the blonde's words brought him and grinned widely. "Even you admit that I was winning though! I knew that Pervy-Popsicle barely stood a chance!"

"But he got you back pretty harshly," the golden-haired stranger grimaced and gestured to his face. "Does it hurt?"

"Eh," Natsu shrugged, lifting his hand to his cheek and holding back a wince when he prodded it. "It did at first, but this is nothin'. Usually I'd come out a lot worse once the red-haired monster gets involved."

She tilted her head, "Red-haired... you mean Erza? But she's not a monster."

The salmon-haired student shivered fearfully at the name and busied his hands by shoving back into the chip bag. He wouldn't say anything else. He didn't trust his voice not to crack and make him seem even more pathetic, so he stayed silent and just shook his head at the blonde. There was a contemplative silence as she tilted her head up and regarded him though squinted eyes.

"I doubt she would appreciate being called a monster," the blonde went on as she slowly stood. Her chocolate-orbs locked on his questioning olive-gaze and she smiled. "Hold on a bit, will you? I'm just going to buy something cold real quick."

Natsu narrowed his eyes at that, his mouth too full with deliciously spicy chips to vocally call her a weirdo. His face must have said it all because she rolled her eyes and walked over towards one of the ice-cream vending machines. If he thought that her sweater was ridiculously over-sized on her, his hoodie practically swallowed her whole and he couldn't stop the snort of amusement from escaping him. As if knowing where his thoughts went, the golden-haired student turned around, tugged at the drawstrings of the hood, and playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

The salmon-haired man just laughed from his spot on the floor, covering up the loud _clunk_ as whatever she bought dropped into the cubby.

"Why'd you wanna buy an ice-cream anyway?" Natsu asked when she made her way back to him. "It's freakin' cold already, weirdo."

The golden-haired woman rolled her eyes and dropped to her knees at his side, "It's not for me, jerk; it's for you."

"Wha–"

His question immediately died in his throat when she pressed the cool package against his cheek. Purely out of instinct, he flinched— _more from disgust than from pain_ —away from the frozen treat. A whine bubbled up in his throat as she easily followed his face and pressed the package against his cheek again. She moved her hand to hide her smile, but Natsu could tell she was laughing at him just by that tiny, familiar spark in her eyes.

"Don't be such a baby," she said once she moved her hand, her lips smoothed down into a stern line. "The cold air might have slowed the process, but if you want to see out of your left eye tomorrow, keep still."

" _Nooo_ ," he whimpered. He tried to move away, but she quickly took hold of his shoulder and pursed her lips to stop another smile. "I don't like cold stuff!"

"Stop that," she chided when he pouted at her, "it's going to help with the swelling. The cold isn't that bad, is it?"

"It is!" He argued, reluctantly letting her move his hand so he could hold the frozen treat himself. "And it's the stripper's favorite ice-cream too!"

The woman blinked at him before she snickered, "You're not really that petty, are you?"

He was about to open his mouth to protest, but the hourly bell rang in the quiet corridor and panic flashed over the golden-haired student's face. If it wasn't for the scrambling she did to stand, Natsu wouldn't have believed the curse he heard slip out of her mouth. She did, however, flash him an apologetic glance before she swiped her wallet from the ground and snagged four snacks from the pile. She told him he could have the rest, eat it, give it away, or whatever, before she practically fled from the alley.

That's where his scrambled brain decided to catch up and remind him of four very important things. One, he never once considered to ask the golden-haired weirdo her name; two, she left her sweater under the pile of snacks from the vending machine; three, with the weirdo gone, he didn't need to hold the ice-cream to his cheek, but did it anyway; and four, she was still wearing his favorite jacket.

And he didn't know if he'd ever get it back.


	2. Mistakes Happen

**A/N: Before I say anything else, I want to thank** _KaUiA_ **for the following portion of this chapter (and the next– whenever I get the time to write it). You're an plot descended angel!**

 **Also, I want to give a great big _THANK YOU_ to everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed. My gmail is acting a little strange, so if you reviewed and didn't get a personal PM from me, I am very sorry. I do appreciate the support and I want to thank you now. To my Guest(s) who reviewed, your reply will be at the bottom. ****I'm sorry that this took a lot longer than I originally expected, but then my author's mind got greedy and I spent up most of my time writing another fic. I'm back now and ready to roll!**

 **No significant Natsu/Lucy development in this** **chapter but I thought you guys waited long enough. So here's an update!**

 **Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire**

 **Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima**

* * *

 **Recap:**

 _One, he never once considered to ask the golden-haired weirdo her name; two, she left her sweater under the pile of snacks from the vending machine; three, with the weirdo gone, he didn't need to hold the ice-cream to his cheek, but did it anyway; and four, she was still wearing his favorite jacket._

 _And he didn't know if he'd ever get it back._

* * *

 **Vending Machine Love**

" _Mistakes Happen_ "

It wouldn't be until sometime next week when he can see the weirdo again.

Not like he was going to actively _look_ for her or anything. Sure, he wanted his jacket back– it was his favorite after all, but he wouldn't go out of his way to search for her. However, since it was Friday and no one on campus believed in Saturday school, he'd just have to catch her next week.

Then his brain was kind enough to remind him that she _just_ left a second ago and he scrambled to his feet to see if he could catch her at the mouth of Vending Alley. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the entrance of the tunnel-way, the blonde-haired weirdo was nowhere to be seen and his salmon-colored eyebrows furrowed. She didn't look like someone who could move very fast (don't tell her he said that! His minimal experience with anything female told him she wouldn't take to kindly to hearing that).

He briefly wondered if the past thirty-minutes was just his mind playing tricks on him again, but then an exceptionally cold breeze wrapped around his jacket-less arms and the thought immediately flew from his mind. Besides, when he turned around to head back into the vending-machine lined tunnel-way, he was once again reminded that– _no_ , it wasn't his imagination because her sweater was still there, and _no_ , he had no idea what he was going to do with all those snacks.

His Pyrotechnics Lab wasn't until three and the hourly bell indicated that it was currently two. So maybe he could drop some of the stuff in the room if his professor wasn't busy. He could be the bigger man and give the frozen freak the _Ice Shell_ ice-cream the weirdo bought him to stop the bruise on his cheek from swelling. Of course, he wasn't planning on telling the stripper that he used anything— _albeit reluctantly_ —for the cheap-shot he got him with.

Besides, it was still cold enough. Even with his abnormal body heat, the low forty-degree weather definitely kept the ice-cream from melting. He could ' _accidentally_ ' forget that he used it as a cold-press and that ice-prick would be none-the-wiser.

Natsu reluctantly knew that Gray's next lesson— _which was apparently a Sculpting Lab_ —started at three. So he could give that dark-haired bastard his ice-cream when he met up with him at the sitting area between their buildings. Natsu also knew that metal-face, a.k.a. his dumb-ass of a cousin, Gajeel Redfox, would also be around because his Wielding (or something of the other) Lab started at two-forty-five and it was in the same building as the stripper's.

Which actually worked out well, because the weirdo also bought two things of the _Iron_ _Dragon_ 's caramel-brittle. Which, by the way, tasted damn awful. Honestly, Natsu legitimately thought it tasted like dirt and metal, but his cousin seemed likes it enough. Or was obsessed with it.

Same thing.

The salmon-haired student didn't want to seem like he was going soft by giving the snacks to those asses. If anything, those ungrateful jerks would use this begrudging act of kindness as more fuel to burn him with. But it wasn't like he was going to eat them himself and he wasn't just going to just toss the crap snacks because of that. _Especially_ since he wasn't the one to wasted her whole wallet on it (he owed the weirdo at least _that_ much). So with that thought in mind, he strode back towards the pile of snacks and secured them snugly into the pink sweater.

Natsu felt his face scrunch at the bold color but cradled the impromptu knapsack into the crook of his arm anyway.

* * *

"Yo, Macao!"

The salmon-haired student strolled into the lab-room, abruptly causing the professor to halt half-way into his explanation of proper mineral mixtures. The dark-blue-haired professor, Macao Conbolt, raised an eyebrow at the young man walking towards the backroom with an air of nonchalance that only Natsu could exude. Having known the young man as a student for nearly two years, he wasn't too surprised at his abrupt presence in the class.

That didn't mean he couldn't be upset.

"Dragneel," the older man called out, making the namesake pause halfway through the door to the backroom. "How very nice of you to join us. Do you have a particular reason why you're currently interrupting my lab?"

The salmon-haired student turned his head to grin widely, "Aye, sir."

That's all he decided to give the older man before disappearing fully into the back. Natsu faintly heard a sigh come from the main room before he could make the dark-haired professor clearing his throat and droning on about what he had interrupted. The salmon-haired student snickered as he moved towards the lockers off to the side.

His nose scrunched at the near overwhelming scent of the minerals next to him, but paid it no mind as he slipped his fingers into the front of his scarf and fished out a small key from one of the many folds. The polished silver metal glinted in the faded fluorescent light, temporarily distracting the student as he drift his thumb over a particularly large scratch on its head. There was a small, nostalgic grin on his face as he shoved the tool in its respective lock, whistling while he deftly twisted the key and swung the locker door open.

Natsu dumped the snacks into his locker and threw the pink sweater over his shoulder so he had his hands free to sort through the snacks. Before he could reach back into the locker, his nose twitched curiously as the pink fabric accidentally brushed under it. Unable to help himself, he turned his head slightly and tentatively sniffed again.

Even through the heavy smells of the minerals like barium and sulfur, the heady scent wafting from the sweater hit him harder than one of Gajeel's punches. A curse slipped through his lips in an awed whisper, his hand physically moving to lift the limp sleeve to his nose.

 _Cinnamon_.

That was the first smell that reached him. It threw him for a loop because he immediately pegged the weirdo as a vanilla type of girl, maybe even a pinch of strawberries thrown into the mix. Cinnamon was a palette he was definitely new to, but it fit her strangely enough. The spice mixed in well with a bit of honey and– _wait_... was that coconut?

Slipping the pink fabric off of his shoulder, he shamelessly brought the sweater to his nose and breathed in. There wasn't a moment of pause or even a second of wonder if smelling the stranger's clothes was creepy. He just nodded his head when he pulled the pink fabric away from his face.

Yep, definitely coconut.

The tropical fruit was more prominent near the collar of the sweater and If Natsu had to bet on it, he'd probably say it was must've been kind of shampoo she used. The scents mingled strongly on the sweater and he couldn't help but raise an amused brow at the thought. If this was her favorite sweater, she must be freaking out pretty badly right about now.

Serves her right though. She took his favorite sweater and now he had hers. They'd just have to do an exchange or something the next time they meet and then part ways as if the incident never happened in the first place. Maybe repay her if he could– discreetly, of course. The weirdo looked like a goody-two-shoes and there was no doubt in his mind that she had a clean reputation. There was no way he was going to repay her kindness by dirtying her slate with his.

Now, Natsu wasn't an idiot– just that he would do some idiotic stuff at times. He knew that people pointed fingers and gossiped about him even if they thought he never noticed. It wasn't bullying— _per say_ —because most of what they would say was technically true. He couldn't help it; he enjoyed a good braw with his frenemies every now and again. His hair drew the most attention, but the color was completely natural and it's not like he would go out of his way to dye his hair just because they didn't like it.

Everyone would just have to deal.

The salmon-haired student yawned, dropping the sweater back onto his shoulder in favor of covering his mouth. Tears pricked at the edge of his eye as he rummaged through the pile of packaged goodies in the locker, plucking out the snacks he would give to the bastards out of the kindness of his own heart. Snorting at the thought, he quickly tied the sweater back into a makeshift knapsack and cradled it back into the crook of his arm.

The door swing closed and he swiftly locked it, slipping the small key back into his scarf for safe keeping. His olive-eyes scanned the backroom for a second before he shrugged the bundle of his arms over his shoulder. He whistled slightly, pausing to push a jar of powdered charcoal further into the shelf before striding out of the back room.

He uninterestedly noted that Macao moved his class onto the actual lab portion of the classroom. The professor turned when he heard whistling, sending the salmon-haired student an unimpressed look. Natsu just grinned and readjusted his hoard over his shoulder, giving the man a two-finger salute in farewell. The dark-haired professor rose an eyebrow before lifting his own hand and beckoned the younger man with a curl of his finger.

With a pause of hesitance, Natsu placed the bundle onto a desk near the exit and walked over with a slight frown.

"Class," Macao announced when the salmon-haired student stopped at his side. The thirty-sum students stopped what they were doing and turned to look. "This is Natsu Dragneel," he introduced, ignoring the sharp look he got in return, "and he's going to help me do a little demonstration."

The namesake looked at the professor flatly. "No, I'm not."

"Of course you are," Macao grinned, dropping a heavy hand on the student's shoulder. "It's the least you can do for disrupting my lecture."

"I've got things I gotta do," Natsu still refused, warily eyeing the eager gazes on him.

"I've known you since you were in diapers, Natsu," the professor rose an unimpressed eyebrow, "no matter how important something is, you'd never pass up the chance to light something on fire." The salmon-haired student remained silent, unable to argue against the truth. Macao grinned and patted the young man's shoulder before slipping his hand off. "Good. Now go grab some glasses and a coat."

Natsu begrudgingly forced himself towards the lab coats, scrunching his nose in distaste. "I'll wear the googles, but I ain't gonna put on that damn coat."

"It's protocol, Dragneel," Macao stated flatly. "If you're going to help with the demonstration, you need to wear a coat. Lab rules."

"Not gonna do it," the student refused, pushing the safety goggles over his eyes and striding back over to him. "I'm not gonna take off my scarf for a demo that I didn't even want to do in the first place."

"Do what you want," the professor sighed in defeat, "but if anything happens because you refuse to wear a coat, I'm not liable."

Natsu grinned toothily, his sharp canines making their presence. "Yeah, yeah. Now what are we doin'?"

"Fireworks." The dark-haired professor smirked at the instant reaction he pulled from the salmon-haired student. The male's olive-eyes brightened almost immediately. "I just finished explaining the fuel and oxidation process. We're moving onto demonstrating color compound."

Natsu smirked, folding his arms. "Strontium."

"No," Macao immediately denied, ignoring the younger man's indignant pout. "We're trying to demonstrate colors, Natsu," he continued, reaching under the desk to pull out a couple of jars. "What's the point of the demonstration if we keep the flame color the same?"

"Strontium is a brighter red than a normal flame," he pointed out, trying to defend his favorite color.

When the professor continued to level him with a flat stare, the student sighed and decided to go with his go-to color when all else failed. He crouched to look under into the cabinets, his hand clutching at the edge of the counter for balance. His olive-eyes sharpened as he purposefully searched the expanse of compound powders for the–

"Ah!" Natsu cried in triumph, his hands wrapping around the cover of a glass jar and pulling it free. "Got it!"

"Sodium," Macao uttered with a purse of his lips as he took the compound from the student's hands. "I should've known. You probably would've chosen the lampblack or iron-carbon compound if we were making a completed explosive."

"Yeah, keep talking Macao," Natsu snickered, "you're confusing your first-years."

True enough, when the pair turned to look, there were blank stares from every corner of the lab staring right back at them. The students had turned when they heard the salmon-haired man speak but it was clear that some had stopped paying attention. There were one or two students that looked as if they followed and the rest tried their best to hang on.

Macao sighed, turning to the pinkette with a disapproving look in his face. "Just get the torch or I'll tell Erza you were disrupting a lecture."

"Wow. That's a low blow, old man."

Natsu rolled his eyes at the bored shrug he got in return and shuffled to the back room while the dark-haired professor motioned for the students to follow him towards the other end of the class. When he returned with the propane blow-torch in hand, the entire classroom was surrounding what he called the ' _Boom Box_ '. He never knew the technical name for it but it was just a hollow box lined with metal plates to keep fire from spreading whenever they demonstrated combustion reactions.

And things exploded sometimes.

Hence the name _Boom_ Box.

"...and sodium nitrate produces a yellow," the dark-haired professor droned on. He then lifted his hand to the back right corner of the box where a rectangular metal grate occupied. "This is a vent," Macao pointed out and ignored the sarcastic snort Natsu released as he pushed through the crowd. "There are some compounds that are extremely dangerous when oxidized. The effects are significantly reduced in open air but in a closed classroom like this, there's no telling what might happen."

Macao took the blow-torch from the salmon-haired student's hands. "With Dragneel's help, I will be using the torch method to demonstrate how each compound affects what color is going to be produced in a completed firework. You all will be doing a similar experiment in the later half of today's lesson." The dark-haired professor let the class cheer for a second before holding up his hand. "However, you will test color effects using the raw components in the compound, mixed into an alcohol solution."

The class groaned.

As an after-thought, Macao added: "And no blow-torches."

Natsu smirked when the class protested immediately. Arguments rung around the classroom and the salmon-haired student only smirked wider when he saw the dark-haired professor rub his temple with his free hand.

"Who are you and what did ya do with the old man?" He asked the professor with a smirk. There was a questioning look in the older man's eyes and Natsu was all too eager to answer it. "A couple of years ago, you'd shove torches their way even if they didn't want 'em," he snickered, "don't tell me you're actually tryna be responsible for once?"

Macao glared. "I am responsible."

"Yeah, sure," Natsu snorted. "This comin' from the guy that gave an eight-year-old a fireworks kit for his birthday."

"I didn't hear any complaining."

"From me?" The salmon-haired student rose an eyebrow, "o'course not, I loved it. Can't say the same for Pops and Gramps though."

"Okay, so maybe _one_ time I was irresponsible–"

"You got drunk on your kid's fifth birthday."

"–I did _not_ –"

"And nearly every birthday after."

"–that's not–"

"Y'know," Natsu pondered with a misleadingly innocent twist to his lips, "Rome's still mad about you slugging his favorite superhero in the face on his tenth birthday. Which actually hurt a little, by the way."

The younger man touched his cheek, which was sporting a new bruise in courtesy of a certain icy-bastard. And even though there was a new wound, Natsu could still remember that day as if it happened just the day before. Macao's kid, Romeo Conbolt, had been obsessed with an anime-bred hero named _Salamander_ who had an uncanny resemblance to Natsu's fifteen-year-old self.

The salmon-haired student was just messing around with the Romeo and his friends when, out of nowhere, the man stumbled in and clocked him right in the face. As expected, Natsu did what every highly-esteemed hero does when attacked:

Beat the crap out of him.

Macao opened his lips to argue but then pursed them closed almost immediately, knowing that he couldn't protest because it was all true. His dark eyes peered around the little group they were surrounded by, relieved that they were still arguing amongst themselves. The dark-haired professor turned to the smug, salmon-haired student and scowled.

They both knew that he was just messing with him; the professor was a good dad despite how careless he was for the first half of his son's life. Natsu saw how broken Macao was when his wife left him and their four-year-old all those years ago. It was around the time he blindly attacked Natsu in his drunken haze when the dark-haired professor really cleaned up his act, got a job as the Pyrotechnics Professor at Mag. State, and became a better dad– a better person overall.

 _But he's still an idiot_ , Natsu reflected silently.

"Okay class! Settle down!" Macao shouted over the obnoxious protesting. The dark-haired professor shot a dirty look at the salmon-haired student's smirk before turning around to address the class. "We're going to start the demonstration and I don't care if your lab won't be ' _fun_ '," he shot a pointed look at one of the students who flushed shamefully, "the compounds that we are working with have traces of the same minerals that we used in the firework's fuel, so things. Will. _Combust_." He stressed the last few words before continuing, "and will do so _randomly_."

Natsu rolled his eyes when Macao lit the torch with a mischievous grin. "Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

 **A/N:** **Since there is only one guest to reply to, I want to use this bit of** **section to talk about a few things.** **Firstly, Happy belated Holidays to you all! I was supposed to post this yesterday as a Christmas gift (even if you don't celebrate it, it's a time of giving back and this was my 'giving back').**

 **Secondly, this is a disclaimer to every nerdy thing used above. I never took a pyrotechnics class (thank goodness. I'd probably burn the whole campus down. On accident of course). I found all the information regarding fireworks via Google. And Google isn't a 'reliable source' according to every intensive English writing professor ever.**

 **Thirdly, I know this was a kind of boring chapter but fillers are inevitable. My take on this Natsu's personality will take a bit of development but I promise to return to the plot soon. I just wanted to give a little bit of more characteristic and background to his past and who he surrounded himself with (although that is frankly obvious).**

 **Now onto my guest reply!**

 **To (my kind Guest) Guest:** Here's the next chapter! I'm sorry for the long wait~ Thank you for reviewing, the support really means a lot!


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